Focus: Violence — Saturday, May 4, 2013

Updated 4:53 pm, Saturday, May 4, 2013

Photo: Matt Rourke, Associated Press

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A police officer stands guard as the search for suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings continued April 19 in Watertown, Mass. An Express-News reader believes residents need to be able to protect themselves and that police are not the only ones who should have guns. less

A police officer stands guard as the search for suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings continued April 19 in Watertown, Mass. An Express-News reader believes residents need to be able to protect themselves ... more

Photo: Matt Rourke, Associated Press

Focus: Violence — Saturday, May 4, 2013

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How to govern

Re: “President Obama fails to work the system in D.C.,” Maureen Dowd, Other Views, April 24:

In her column on the gun control bill, Maureen Dowd said that President Obama had learned how to emotionally connect with the American people. “Unfortunately, he still has not learned how to govern,” she concluded.

Ms. Dowd has apparently learned something after watching the president over the past four years that many of us could have told her four years ago. He had no background, no résumé that showed that he knew anything about governing or leading an organization. It was really unfair to President Obama to elect him to our highest office. More than that, it was unfair to the American people.

It would be advisable for Ms. Dowd and for the other voters of this country to realize that voting should be done on the basis of careful analyses of the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals running. Political party loyalty seldom helps this process. Vote for the person most qualified for the office being sought and we will all be better off.

Timothy Swainhart,

Windcrest

Voting 'no'

This is an open letter to all the senators who voted “no” when 90 percent of the American public supported background checks:

If you have a conscience, you probably are having trouble sleeping after your recent vote on the gun control bill. May I offer a suggestion that, rather than counting sheep, you recite the names of the 20 babies and six teachers killed at Newtown. In addition, you can go on to include the names of the victims at the movie theater in Colorado, the Sikh Temple, Tucson, Virginia Tech, and the list goes on.

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There were 151 shooting rampage victims in 2012 alone. For your convenience, a list of mass shootings where three or more people were killed since 2005 is available online from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. It does not list individual names, but it is 64 pages long.

If you can still look yourself in the mirror, may God and your voters have mercy on your soul.

I believe Mr. Zarbano needs to be more concerned with the Senate vote that came within four votes of the United States Senate giving our constitutional rights over to the United Nations. In a 53-46 vote, the Senate narrowly passed a measure that will stop the United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.

The Statement of Purpose from the bill read: “To uphold the Second Amendment rights and prevent the United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Treaty. The U.N. Small Arms Treaty, which has been championed by the Obama administration, would have effectively placed a global ban on the import and export of small firearms.”

The ban would have affected all private gun owners in the U.S., and had language that would have implemented an international gun registry on all private guns and ammo.

Astonishingly, 46 of our United States senators were willing to give away our constitutional rights to a foreign power.

Incidently, the 46 senators who voted to give away our rights are all Democrats. This is what Mr. Zarbano, the progressive liberals and the San Antonio Express-News should be more concerned about. I mentioned the Express-News because I did not see anything about this vote in the paper.

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Guidelines

Send letters to: letters@express-news.net

Letters may also be mailed to Letters, Express-News, P.O. Box 2171, San Antonio, TX 78297. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Length? The shorter the better — long enough to make your point. All letters are subject to editing for length and clarity.

I'm puzzled by Ken Horn's letter. Using the Boston horror to make a point about gun control doesn't make sense to me. Three people were killed and some 170 more were seriously injured, but no guns were involved until the police chase the next day. The most heinous crime committed by a terrorist to date in this country was the tragedy in Oklahoma City. The weapon there was a high-powered explosive made from common fertilizer.

The Boston brothers had handguns, but I doubt they were patiently waiting for the new gun bill to pass so they could register them. They made explosives detonated in pressure cookers to do their evil.

Should we law-abiding Americans rush to register our pressure cookers? A nut in Florida slashed 14 students there with a knife a few weeks ago. The people involved in violence nationwide will not register theirs regardless of the proposed new laws and will find a way to commit their crimes.

By the way, while the police were searching for these terrorists and had citizens confined behind locked doors in their homes, don't you feel the legal gun owners among them felt a bit more secure than those who didn't own guns?

According to press reports, the Boston Marathon bombers were armed with bombs, handguns and a rifle — none of which they had permits for.

So how did they get these guns? Will you please explain to me how “expanding gun sale background checks” would have prevented them from having these firearms when Massachusetts is already said to have the toughest gun-control legislation in the country? Do you even think they thought about breaking the law when they acquired these firearms?

And, by the way, what plan do you have to defend yourself and your family when you are in a life-threatening situation, such as a carjacking, assault, robbery or home invasion? I hope it does not include calling 911. I am sure you would not want to be such a hypocrite as to expect the police to respond with big guns and lots of bullets to protect you.

I, for one, will have the gun and the bullets to fulfill my obligation to protect myself, my family, my friends and our stuff — and I'll even protect you, too, if necessary!